Rogues
by cloclomockingjay
Summary: The vampires from the sewers are coming up for a taste of the better life and they all want a taste of one thing... Claire. Can her friends save her famously tasted blood or will they lose her. Expect lots of damsel in distress moments.
1. Chapter 1

Shane's POV

Sitting at home on my usual zombie game, I was thinking about how calm things had been in Morganville for the past few months. Nothing disastrous had happened really, which was nice. It meant I didn't have to worry about anyone all the time. Particularly Claire, when something bad happened in this town, she always ended up in the firing line.

And then of course, when the thoughts of how the local vampires had kept a good distance from me hit my mind, Michael came over to tell me something I really didn't want to hear. "Hey Shane, Amelie wants to talk to us. Both of us like now."

I groaned. "Why the hell would she want to talk to me for?"

"I don't know she didn't say, she just said come over immediately."

I shut of my game without even saving it and stood up. I just wanted to get it over with. I wasn't a big fan a Amelie because of all the danger she put Claire in all the time so having a meeting with her was not on my to do list what's so ever. "Fine, well I guess you're driving the vamp mobile since Eve has her car."

"Whatever man."

We didn't say a word on the way to Founders Square, mainly because there wasn't really anything to say. It didn't take long and soon the two of us were headed up the steps and into a lobby. In there a vamp was sat behind a desk. When she looked up at us she gave us a really creepy grin. "Hello Mr Glass and this must be the famous Mr Collins."

"Yeah sure."

"Hmm, Amelie is waiting for you right down that hall. Have a nice evening."

As we got through some doors and started walking down a long narrow hallway I leant over to Michael and whispered. "Wow, that wasn't creepy at all."

"She was just messing with you Shane. Trying to piss you off."

"So, still annoying."

Michael didn't answer, he just kept going until we got to the end and were stood at huge wooden double doors. He pushed them opened to reveal an office that must have belonged to Amelie.

The ice queen herself was sat behind a desk, obviously she knew were coming and was sat waiting. "Ah finally, please take a seat."

She gestured to two chairs in front of her. Michael sat straight down while I hesitated. Amelie looked at me. "Please sit Mr Collin's. I can assure you are in no danger here. I wish to speak with you regarding Claire."

I sat down immediately, I didn't like that this was about Claire. Michael was a little confused. "If this is about Claire then why are we here?"

"Well, I believe you are aware of the vampires that live in the tunnels and sewers below the town yes?"

"Yes, but I thought they left?"

"The closest to civilised left, the rest stayed down there. Only now they have decided to come up into the streets to be a nuisance to me." She looked irritated at the thought of these vamps.

"So what's Claire got to do with this?"

"These vampires have expressed their end of patience with the quality of their diet and they have declared they are going to change that. They have claimed that they are going to go for the best known blood in town."

"Meaning?"

"They are planning on attacking people who have been bitten before. People who's blood has been tested should we say. The problem is, not only did Francois brag to almost every vampire in town about his tasting of Claire but Morley made false claims that he had done so too. He told every vampire in the tunnels that she was the best he had tasted. I believe the vampires who are causing this trouble will have Claire at the top of their list."

Both me and Michael jumped to our feet. "To hell with that. They are not laying a finger on her." Michael bellowed through the room.

"Fifteen vampires may be on her trail Michael, fifteen. That is a lot to protect someone from. However I believe you are the ones who will do with that duty. So, here is what I order. She will not go to school until further notice, she will only use the portal to go to Myrnin and I request she leaves the Glass house only when absolutely necessary. She is too valuable to lose, this problem needs to be solved as soon as possible."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Just twenty minutes before I had been thinking of how safe things had been and now Claire was on a load of vamps menus like she was the finest champagne. This was just a joke. I was never leaving Claire on her own now, not until all those sick frickin vamps were dead.

"Amelie, how do you know all this?" Michael was anxious like always.

"I had one of my guards try to speak with them. We weren't expecting them to let spill all of their plans."

I was getting nervous as I realised Claire would be back from uni by now, alone in the house. "Michael, can we go now. Claire will be on her own which after hearing this I don't want."

He looked at Amelie to see if she had anything else to say. She nodded to him. "I'm sorry, but there isn't anything else I can tell you. Only to protect her as much as you can."

We both stood and hurried out the room, out the building and into the car. I could tell from the look on Michael's face that things were going to be even worse than they sounded. Trouble was coming.


	2. Chapter 2

Shane's POV

Soon I was rushing into the house again. As ridiculous as it was I was worried something had happened to Claire in the five minutes she'd been alone at home since getting back from the university. Thankfully, I walked into the living room to find her sat on the couch. She looked up at me and smiled when she heard my approach. "Hey, where have you two been?"

I grimaced, realising I was going to have to tell her what was going on and break that heart warming smile on her face. "Well we er, we went to see Amelie. We have something we need to tell you."

Just as I thought, the smile changed to a confused frown when she realised something serious was up. As Michael and I went to sit n the couch with her she started to look worried. "What's wrong? Is Eve Ok?"

Michael answered her. "Yes, of course. Eve is absolutely fine. You're the one we are worrying about."

She looked at me confused. "I don't understand, I'm fine."

I took her hand and started to explain. "Amelie told us some vampires are causing trouble in town and they want certain people in town, people who have been bitten before."

"Ok?"

"They want you Claire."

Her eyebrows furrowed for a second before her eyes went wide. She stuffed her hand in her pocket and pulled out a screwed up piece of paper. I watched her read it before she sat back and sighed. "Great."

"What? What is it?"

She handed the paper to me. "I got this today."

What I read made me feel sick to the stomach.

_Little Claire_

_Can't wait to get a taste of you._

When Claire knew I'd read it she looked at me and I realised the note had actually scared her. I screwed the note up in my fist before putting my arm around her. "Claire, we are going to protect you, Ok. Don't be frightened by it."

She laughed lightly. "You'd think with everything we've bee through I'd be used to this sort of stuff by now."

"It's Ok Claire."

"Yeah I know." She shook of the fear on her face and put on a smile that I knew was partially fake. "Anybody hungry?

I looked at Michael and I knew he could tell just as much as I could that Claire was freaked out, no matter how much of a brave face she tried to put on. He stood up to go to the kitchen. "I'll make some coffee. Why don't you two make some tacos?"

"Yeah sure. When does Eve get back?"

"Any minute now."

"Ok, I'll make some for her too."

Claire stood up and headed off like Michael and I followed her. She didn't say much after that, just started cooking with my help. Soon enough we heard the clomping of Eve's boots through the house and she was soon walking into the kitchen. She didn't look happy. "Yeah, before you guys try and tell me I already know."

"Know what?" I had no clue what she was talking about.

"About the vampires wanting to snack on Claire, Oliver told me everything."

"Why did he tell you?"

"I don't know, he was just whining about how they were causing him so much trouble and he just wanted to kill them to save time. Then he told me the Claire part." Eve looked at Claire and saw exactly what we saw. "Claire are you Ok?"

"Yeah sure, I'm fine."

"I hope you know we are not letting you out of our sight until further notice."

I looked at Eve. "Amelie said she doesn't want her to leave the house unless she absolutely has to, she doesn't want her to go to college."

Surprisingly, Claire didn't even protest to not being able to go to college, so not like her at all. When the tacos were ready Claire plated them all up before grabbing her own and walking to the living room without another word. Before giving each other a look we all followed her.

We ate in awkward silence. Claire had her head down the whole time. I never took my eyes of her, at that moment in time I was really upset with the fact she was trying to hide how she really felt. There was nothing wrong with being scared. I would have been scared if it was me.

For the first time ever she finished eating first and went to wash up her plate. When she came back a couple of minutes later she headed straight to go upstairs. I called her before she hit the first step. "Hey, are you sure you are Ok?"

"Yeah I'm fine, I'm just going to get a shower."

"Ok."

As soon as she was gone Michael spoke. "She is definitely not Ok. She is bad at lying but that was the worst attempt I've seen her make."

Eve looked up from her plate. "Well what do you expect Michael? She's been bitten before Michael and I'm pretty sure it wasn't a nice experience. The last thing she will want is for that to happen again."

"Yeah I know but-"

Michael was cut off by an ear splitting scream from upstairs. "Claire!"

Without hesitating with ran for her room as fast as we could. When we got to her door it was locked, Michael shouted through it. "Claire! Claire what's going on? Open the door!"

Nothing.

"God damn it!" He threw himself into the door three times until it was finally reduced to splinters. We all gasped at what we found on the other side. Claire was pinned to the wall by a scruffy vampire. He had is hand over her mouth so she couldn't scream and he had his lips attached to her wrist. I was heartbroken by how terrified she looked. Michael looked ready for murder. "Hey, let her go now!"

The vampire released Claire's wrist and grinned at us. As Michael moved forward to grab him he tightened his grip on Claire. "One more move and she dies!" Michael stopped dead.

Claire choked suddenly and I realised he wasn't just covering her mouth but her nose as well. She couldn't breathe. When the vamp was sure Michael wasn't going to attack he turned back to Claire and smiled. At the same moment she tried to shake free he lunged forward. Straight for her neck. A muffled scream filled the air as his fangs pierced her throat. Eve started screaming for her.

I wanted to help her but I knew one move could get her killed. Claire's struggles grew weaker and weaker as she continued to gasp for breath. I saw tears spill over her eyes as she tried to reach out a hand to us. In less than a minute her eyes began to flicker before slowly closing. Michael couldn't take standing there any longer. "Fuck this!"

Without warning he jumped forward at lightening speed and grabbed the vampire before he could react. He dragged him from the room as he shouted back at us. "Help Claire!"


	3. Chapter 3

Shane's POV

The second the vamp was forced to let go of Claire she slid down the wall and collapsed. Both me and Eve jumped forward to her, kneeling down in front of her to see how bad the damage was. We could hear fighting outside which we knew must have been Michael and that vamp. I hoped he ripped the leech to shreds. As I checked Claire's neck to see how much blood she had lost Eve leant over her chest. She jumped back and looked at me with a panicked stare. "She's not breathing!"

"Oh shit! Move over Eve." I yelled out as I moved to sit over Claire's head. Eve moved aside and held Claire's hand as tears streamed down her face. The hand she held was completely limp. Tilting Claire's head back I took in a long breath before pressing my lips to hers and breathing into her mouth. Nothing happened. "C'mon Claire you can't leave us."

I tried again and still nothing happened, her chest rose but fell still once I let go. I kept going, over and over I pressed my lips to hers and gave her all the breath I could hold but she stayed lifeless in front of us. Tears fell from my eyes as I gasped for breath myself. Eve thought I was giving up and threw herself over Claire. "No! Claire-bear you can't leave me I need you." As Eve wailed into her shoulder and I leaned forward to try again Claire's eyes suddenly sprang open and she gasped hysterically for breath. She rolled over and coughed into the floor as Eve more or less hugged her arm. "Claire! You're Ok. I'm so glad you're alive."

"Dammit Eve, give her some space she needs air here."

"Sorry."

When Claire stopped coughing she tried to lift herself onto her hands and knees. She struggled as she barely had the strength to move and her whole body was shaking. I put my arms around her to support her. "Hey, keep still. You've lost a lot of blood."

I could tell she had lost a lot just from the look on her face. She looked completely dazed and confused. She didn't look like she was sure what was going on. Looking at me with a scared and bewildered expression she whined out. "My neck hurts."

"I know Claire I am so sorry." I felt so guilty, we were meant to protect her but we couldn't manage it for a few hours.

Claire tried to stand up but as she started to rise to her feet she whimpered before her legs gave way and she fell back to the floor. She knelt on her elbows trying to get her bearings on what was going on. I looked at her neck and realised the bite had started to pour out blood. Just then Michael came back and as I saw his eyes flash red I panicked as I thought he was going to attack Claire. Amazingly, he shook his head and the red disappeared to show the Michael we knew. His clothes were completely ruined from the fight he had been in and he looked quite tired. He didn't care though, he was more focused on us, on the state Claire was in. "Oh my god! How much blood has she lost?"

Eve answered, I was too busy trying to support Claire's weight. "Too much, she's completely dazed. I don't think she fully remembers what's happened."

We realised just how confused she was when she looked at Michael and started screaming. She wouldn't look at him, she kept her eyes shut as she continued shrieking. I grabbed hold of her and tried to look her in the eyes. "Claire, what's the matter?"

She pointed a shaky finger at Michael who stood there with a baffled look on his face. "What did I do?"

I lifted Claire up so she was sat on her knees in front on me. "Why are you screaming at him?"

She was crying as she replied and I realised she was crying in fear. "V-vampire. He said it, he said they are all coming for me. The one that attacked me, he told me."

Michael's eyes went wide as he realised she thought he was going to attack her. He came towards her with his hands out in front of him. "Claire I would never hurt you. I'm not like them."

Claire yelped at his advance and jumped into my arms, burying her head in my shoulder. I've never seen her so scared before, I could feel her entire body trembling, she was absolutely terrified. I rocked her as she kept on crying into my shirt. "Ssshhh, Michael's not going to hurt you."

"They're not going to give up, they won't stop till I'm dead."

"You are safe Claire, you are safe with us."

She suddenly stopped shaking and her body started to sway a little. "I feel funny." Before I could respond in anyway she rocked back on her knees and fell back. She would have hit the floor it I didn't have my arms secure around her waist. Checking her I realised she had fainted.

Eve watched Claire, trying to decide how bad her wounds were. "Michael, what do we do? Does she need to go to hospital?"

"She's lost a lot of blood but I don't think it's enough to need a hospital trip, she just needs to rest it off... I can't believe she thought I was going to hurt her."

"Don't take it too hard, she probably won't even remember freaking out at you when she wakes up. You saw that look on her face, it's surprising she knew where she was." Eve was right, I doubted Claire really believed Michael wanted to bite down on her.

Gently, I lifted Claire up into my arms and went to lay her down in her bed. She looked limp again but this time I could see the life in her face. Once I had wrapped a blanket around her I pulled off my shirt and pressed it against the bite on her throat. The blood was starting to dry up. I turned back to Michael. "So, what happened out there? Please tell me that guy is out there with a stake in his chest."

"Sadly that isn't the case. That guy knew what he was doing. He fought back for a while but once he realised he was losing he ran for it. He said he will be back for her though."

"So not fucking happening, I am gonna kill that freak first for what he's done to her."

"I don't think he will be back tonight, he ran away pretty fast."

I was happy about that. Claire needed her rest before anymore trouble is pushed on her. No matter how brave and tough she tries to be, Claire is so small and so fragile the urge to protect her is beyond anything. She was just like a precious gem, my precious gem. I kissed her forehead before leaving her to sleep.

Author's POV

Little did they know, although that vampire ran pretty fast he didn't run very far. Close enough to hear them speaking, close enough to hear the sleeping girl's heartbeat. The girl he was coming back for. He just had to wait in the shadows until she was alone again...


	4. Chapter 4

Claire's POV

Forcing my eyes open the room started to slowly come into focus... and so did everything that had happened before. I started to remember seeing Michael appear and my terrified reaction first. I felt bad about that. Then the darkness, where I felt someone's lips press to mine. Then the reason the darkness had hit me in the first place. The vampire that had appeared from no where and attacked me, choking of my air supply as he bit my wrist-

"Thinking of me?"

I looked around the room franticly, trying to pinpoint where the voice had come from. Then a figure stepped from the shadows, grinning at me.

I was totally shocked by his again swift appearance. "How did you-"

"The window." I looked over to see it was wide open with a breeze blowing through. "Since your landlord is also a vampire I have no problem with getting in. Unfortunately for you."

I opened my mouth to scream but the vampire flashed up beside the bed and covered my mouth while pressing a finger to his lips. "My my, this is certainly seeming to be déjà vu, must I really suffocate you again?"

I shook my head under his hold and he smiled. "Good, this is how this is going to work. I will lift my hand from your mouth and we are going to finish where we left off, this time without any interruptions from your friends."

This time I nodded. I waited as he slowly began to free my mouth from his grip. The second he did I rolled myself out of the bed and made a break for the door. I thought I might actually make it out but just as my hand touched the door handle I felt a force hit me from behind. I was suddenly spun around and held in the air by my neck. Looking into the vampires eyes I knew he had lost all patience. "You know, I was looking forward to finishing you off I really was. Because you know just like Morley said you taste delicious." I made a gagging sound and he squeezed harder before continuing. "However, I can not be bothered with this. Your friends had ruined my chance earlier, now I'm going to ruin things for them. By killing you."

With that he threw me through the door, which I realised was already partially shattered. As I burst through the rest of it and into the hallway I realised it still hurt. Looking at my leg I realised a bit of splintered wood had imbedded in it. Of course, the sound had caused Michael to appear at the top of the stairs and I could hear Shane and Eve bounding up behind him. Michael started to run up to me but was forced to stop when my attacker appeared from my room, strolled up to my and pressed a boot onto my back. This was definitely déjà vu. The vampire flashed his creepy grin when Shane and Eve finally appeared and looked horrified at what they had found. The vampire leant down to me. "Well, like I said before, déjà vu. Alright you three you know the drill, one wrong moved and my foot will be causing a lot of bone shattering."

Shane looked seriously pissed, and pained. "Hey, asshole. What the fuck is your obsession with her. Let her go."

I felt the boot press harder and I yelped out and tried to crawl towards Michael who was slowly trying to come forward. So slowly it was only noticeable if you paid attention to him. The vamp warned Shane. "Now, don't be rude. It might just cost you your lover's life. Would you like that? To be responsible for her death." I saw Shane's muscles tense at the words. "And why you ask? Simple, she is the finest wine of Morganville, something I believe I deserve after so long feeding of rats and the odd straggler."

"Get your wine from somewhere else, you are not getting your fangs anywhere near her again."

"Oh I know. You see, your last interruption has caused me to lose my appetite but I am rather annoyed by it all the same. Now what is the common saying you hear these day?" Ah yes, I remember. If I can't have her, no one can."

"No!"

With that, I felt the boot lift from my back before coming back down at impossible speed. I heard the most awful cracking sound ring through my ears as his heel made contact with my spine. And then the vampire was gone, he had disappeared out my window. My friends ran to me as I tried to scream but all that came out was a gurgle as blood poured from my lips. I couldn't move, and darkness was slowly trying to reach me.

Shane's POV

My heart shattered as I heard the blood curdling sound of her back bone snapping. The moment it happened her eyes widened as she stared at me before her head fell forward into the floor. The vampire had disappeared though I barely noticed, all I could think about was Claire on the floor. When I got to her I rolled her over as carefully as I could until she was lying on her back. She was still alive, but barely. Her eyes were just staring off at the ceiling and her mouth hung open as she tried to force out each breath. I took her hand that hung lifeless, she was completely paralysed.

I watched as Michael put his hand under Claire's back. He drew out a breath before shaking his head continuous as tears rolled down his cheeks. "Her spine- it's shattered from her neck to her waist."

I knew what that meant, it was fatal. Breaking the spine like that was almost impossible and definitely untreatable. "No, she can't die, she just can't."

"There's nothing we can do."

I suddenly thought of this town and looked at Michael, at what he was. What I saw gave me the last hope we had for Claire, but also my worst nightmare. It was the hardest decision that had ever come to my head but also the shortest time I had to make it. Lose Claire or allow her to become the one thing I feared for her. To be honest once I ran it through my head I realised that when it came to her life or death it wasn't the hard a decision to make after all. Without taking my eyes of Claire I whispered. "But you can save her Michael."

"What?"

"You. You are the only one who can save her now so please."

"What, you mean make her a-"

"Please Michael, you have to. We can't lose her now."

Once he had realised what I wanted him to do he looked scared to death. "Shane, I can't do that, not to her. I can't take that choice from her, take her life away."

"Her life is being taken away now!"

"I- I can't, it's not right. I could never forgive myself for doing something like that to Claire. Can you imagine how much she would hate me for doing that to her?"

"Can you imagine how much _I'm _going to hate you if you let her die knowing you could have easily helped her."

Eve didn't like what I was saying. "Shane, maybe Michael is-"

"No, fuck you. Fuck both of you. You let her die because of your own fucking conscience. Well let your conscience take in the fact that she is dead because of you being a selfish bastard. Go to hell."

I ran, ran as fast as I could to my room, leaving Claire's now dead body behind. I knew we were too late, I knew I had lost her. I didn't know how I could face that.

**Don't think this is the end people, Shane running away may cause him to miss something pretty vital out. **


	5. Chapter 5

Shane's POV

After about half an hour of crying in my room I realised that running away like that was selfish. I should have stayed with Claire the whole time no matter what. Rubbing my eyes I walked out of my room and into the hall expecting to find her body still lying on the floor but along with Eve and Michael she was gone.

"In here Shane." I heard Michael call from down the hallway, from Claire's bedroom. I headed straight there. When I walked in I found Claire's body lying peacefully on her bed. She was now really pale, another sign that told me she was gone. Eve was stood with Michael who was leaning against the far wall with his eyes shut, I didn't know why and to be honest I didn't really care. I went straight to Claire's side and held her hand. I stared at her closed eyes for about five minutes, just wishing they would open. Then I couldn't hold it in anymore, I just collapsed in tears, sobbing into Claire's cold chest. "I'm so sorry Claire, I am so so sorry. All I had to do was protect you and I couldn't even do that. And now... now I won't be able to see your beautiful eyes again, I won't be able to hold you in my arms every night and I won't be able to hear your voice again. I just wish I could speak to you again, even if it's just one last time so I can say goodbye. Even though I know you can't hear me, I just want to say... I love you."

"I love you too."

My head flashed up when I heard those words. I must have been hearing things, that was definitely Claire's voice I heard but when I stared at her face she still looked like she was sleeping, her eyes still closed. I looked back down in disappointment but just as I did I noticed something. Claire's hand, the one I was holding, was twitching slightly. _What the hell, that's impossible._

When I backed up a little, a little scared I was going insane, Michael came over and stood by Claire. He put his hand on her head and tilted it gently to the side, exposing her neck. I stared at what I saw.

Fang marks.

Fang marks that were healing impossibly quickly too. That was when I realised what I had missed in the half an hour I'd hidden in my room, a lot. I looked at Michael. "You- you..."

He smiled at me slightly. "Yeah Shane, I realised you were right. I couldn't let her die when I could save her."

"I- I don't believe it. I honestly believed she was dead for the last forty-five minutes."

"Well she sort of is dead."

"Well yeah, but you know what I mean. Thanks man and I'm sorry, you know about before."

Michael actually stumbled a little and I realised he was weak from turning Claire, that's why he had been leaning against the wall. "No need, like I said you were right."

I couldn't help it, even if it was against guy code I had to give Michael a hug. Luckily he accepted it, well he actually hugged me back with the same enthusiasm as me. At that moment I heard Eve giggling behind Michael. "Aw, I just love a happy ending with a bromance."

"Shut up Eve."

"Oh I get it, you are still telling me to fuck off."

"I said I was sorry."

"Actually you said sorry to Michael."

"Oh yeah, Eve I am really sorry, Ok?"

She laughed again before saying in a gently voice. "Apology accepted. Now go on, your girl will be waking up any moment and I'm sure she will want you to be waiting for her when she does."

I smiled at them both before standing back beside Claire, again holding her hand which had now stopped moving. This time I stayed with her, never taking my eyes off her face, waiting for her to wake up so I could see those eyes again. It took longer than I thought and every second made me more impatient.

Finally, she began to stir from her sleep. Michael moved closer to make sure she didn't try to attack anyone like he did in his first moments as a vampire. When her eyes did open, straight away they focused on me. Michael was surprised by the fact that she woke up and her only reaction in that second was to flash me a warm smile. A smile that sent my heart racing. I returned it with a smile not half a amazing as hers. "Hey, sleepyhead."

"Hey, I've missed you."

"You've only been asleep just over an hour."

"Felt like forever."

That made me laugh. Then I leaned forward into Claire's face to kiss her but as my eyes closed I felt a whirl of air across my face. I opened my eyes again to find Claire was gone.


	6. Chapter 6

Shane's POV

Turning around, I found Claire stood by the far wall. That smile had left her face, she looked almost blank. As I watched her run things through her head and realise exactly what had happened she started to look seriously pissed. Then after a moment her hands balled into fists and she gritted her teeth. She never looked back at us, she just marched out the room and headed down the stairs and into the kitchen. We ran after her of course to see what she was doing. I was surprised when I saw her open up a cupboard and pull out a sports bag. One of the bags that was filled with weapons. As she made to leave the kitchen I moved in front of her and put my hands on her shoulders. "Claire, what are you doing?"

There was no emotion in her eyes except anger as she replied. "Nothing."

"Well where are you going and what's with all the weapons?"

"I have something I need to do."

"Claire you can't just go! I mean look at you, you're a freaking vampire now for crying out loud. Don't you think you should adjust to everything first?"

Again with the lack of emotion she just shrugged before shaking free from my hold and stepping around me. While I had been trying to talk to Claire, Michael had rushed over to the fridge and he was soon stood next to me with one of his sports bottles. "Claire, you can't leave."

"Yes I can."

"No you can't. First of all you need blood."

"Er, no I don't."

Michael threw the bottle to Claire, expecting her to get a smell of it and go crazy for it. He was completely shocked when she caught it, took a smell and placed it down on the counter before turning back to the door. I didn't understand what was wrong with her, she wasn't the Claire I knew. I made one last bid to stop her and grabbed her arm. "Claire, please stay."

"Sorry, but I can't, goodbye."

Before Michael could stop her, she was gone from the house. Michael stared off in confusion. "One, what the hell was that? And two, how the hell did she resist that blood?"

"How the hell should I know?"

"And one more thing, where is she going with those weapons?"

"Will you stop-"

"I think she might be going after that vampire." Eve had been silent the whole time so we had almost forgotten she was there. "Think about it. Who else would she go after?"

"Guess you're probably right. I'm going to talk to Amelie, she needs to know about this."

Michael's POV

Well I must say seeing Claire behave like that had confused me. I had never seen any vampire behave like that and I certainly didn't do that when I was first turned. I didn't know what to do either. Do we go after her? Do we wait and let someone else deal with it? I personally preferred the first option. I was honestly starting to think it was my fault, that maybe I had done something wrong when I turned her. Either way I knew Amelie had to know. Luckily, she answered her phone straight away. "Hello?"

"Amelie its Michael, we have a problem."

"What is it Michael? It better be serious I have things needing to be dealt with."

"Not sure if you think it's as serious as we think it is but I erm... I kind of had to turn Claire into a vampire." There was silence for a moment.

"Michael, may I ask how this came about?"

"Those vampires you told us to protect her from, well one of them got to her. It was the only way I could save her."

"Well I must say that this is quite a shock and Claire must be struggling to come to terms with it but I don't see how this is serious."

"Well that's just it. When she woke up she changed. She just grabbed some weapons and walked out the door. She was like a completely different person, she looked seriously angry."

"Hmm I see. Tell me did she drink any blood before she left?" For some reason she sounded like she had some kind of knowledge I didn't.

"No, that's another thing. She literally turned her nose up at it, it didn't bother her in the slightest."

"Ah, this is serious indeed. This has happened before Michael, I suppose you could say Claire is simply in denial of what has happened to her but at the same time she wants revenge."

"I don't understand."

"Well when it happened last time the vampire was also almost murdered and when they woke up, like Claire they went out set to kill their attacker and refused to touch any blood. They also behaved as if their real self was lost."

"So what do we do?"

"You simply need to find her, pin her down and force blood down her throat. When we did that last time the vampire affected went back to their normal selves. In fact, that very vampire is one of my most trusted guards now."

"So why is it serious?"

"Because whoever this vampire was who attacked her, I doubt he will be alone when she finds him. Also she will probably act very savage towards anyone who tries to stop her. Go now, go find her quickly, I must deal with these rogues also." Then the phone went dead.

Oh this was going to be bad.

Shane's POV

I have never felt so anxious in my life, just knowing that Claire was out there probably doing something completely insane made me feel physically sick. Michael finally got off the phone to Amelie and when he came back in the room the look on his face told me it wasn't good news. He sat down with me and Eve and basically repeated the conversation he had had with Amelie. I didn't like what I heard and I also didn't like the fact that we were just sat there. My Claire was out there, out of her own control and about to try and do something that could easily get her killed. I jumped to my feet the second Michael stopped talking. "What the hell are we still doing here? Let's go get her!"


	7. Chapter 7

Claire's POV

The second I got outside I could smell him, I could smell the scent of the vampire that had almost killed me. I didn't care how long it took, I was going to track him down and get my revenge. Honestly, I knew in my heart this wasn't me, that what I was doing was what I would do but frankly I didn't care. I couldn't even force myself to care that Shane had begged me to stay, that he loved me still even though I was now the one thing he hated.

Following the slowly disappearing scent I walked down the street towards the other side of town, ignoring the stares I got from the pale faced strangers that stalked in the shadows. I knew they had no reason to harm me and if they did I had the capability to defend myself. Nothing was going to stop me from doing this. In the back of my mind the thought of how surprised I was that Michael or Shane hadn't tried to drag me back in the house appeared for just a second before this new, more dominant me knocked it out.

I had the feeling that a lot of people would be looking for me at some point but I didn't bother to stay in the shadows, just strolled down the path following the now faint scent in my nose. Soon enough, I realised that I should have at least tried to be less noticeable as I heard the sound of a car pull up beside me. "Claire, what the hell are you doing out at this time?" It was Hannah.

Barely looking at her I replied. "I have something I need to do."

"Get in the car Claire. I will take you home."

"Sorry, but I can't go back now."

"Claire, do you want me to call Michael and Shane out to get you?"

I didn't answer this time, I was getting angry with all the interference, just kept on walking as Hannah kept her car rolling on beside me. Hannah made a frustrated sound before almost shouting. "Just get in the car, this is dangerous."

The anger boiled over and as I flashed my head round to stare at her my eyes turned crimson red. Hannah's eyes went wide as she slammed her foot on the breaks. "Jesus, you have got to be kidding me. What the hell happened Claire?"

I couldn't listen to her anymore so I picked up my pace and disappeared down an alleyway so Hannah wouldn't know where I was going.

Michael's POV

We honestly had no idea where to start looking for Claire. We knew she was after vampire but this vampire didn't have a specific place it hung out at vamp hour. The first thing we decided to do was drive around in my car for awhile to see if we could get lucky and happen to spot her somewhere. I only got my car as far as the end of Lott Street when my phone rang. Checking the caller ID I was surprised to see it was Hannah calling, it also worried me, being called by her often meant bad news. I answered as I carried on driving. "Hello?"

"Hello Michael I'm glad you answered. Now does someone please want to tell me what happened to Claire?"

I felt slight hope as she mentioned Claire. "You've seen her?"

"Oh yeah I saw her, including her new pair of bright red eyes."

"She got attacked and I sort of had to turn her, she took a bad reaction to what happened and she's sort of not herself."

"I'll say, I only tried to get her to get in the car so I could take her home and she freaked out."

"She didn't hurt you did she?" Now I was getting worried.

"Oh no, she just gave me the scariest death glare I've ever seen before running for it."

I sighed in relieve as I replied. "Oh good, did you see where she went?"

"No she more or less disappeared."

"Ok, could you do us a favour and keep an eye out for her. We are looking for her now but if you see her again will you let me know and we'll get there as soon as possible."

"No problem, I'll let Richard and all the patrols out know as well."

"Ok thanks, bye."

"Bye."

The second I put my phone away Shane leaned over the seat. "What is it? What's happened?"

"Not much, Hannah's seen her. It seems Claire's really not happy at all. She say's she's going to keep an eye out for her."

Shane obviously thought that it would be something more helpful since he slumped back in his seat after I finished talking.

Shane's POV

As more and more time went by and there was still no Claire I began to realise more and more that this was all my fault. I failed when she needed protecting, I asked Michael to turn her and I had let her walk out the house to get herself hurt again. I should have fought to the death to keep her safe. I didn't deserve her, she was better off without me putting her through so much pain. As I sat in that car I decided that when we got her back I was going to let her go for her own good. I knew I was going to have to break her heart in the process though. She would never let me go if she knew I still and will always love her. I was going to have to lie to her, tell her my feelings for her were gone.

Claire's POV

The scent was growing weaker and I was losing hope. I had to find him and kill him. I had walked a few miles and was on the west side of town, the rougher areas of Morganville. As I got outside of a couple of really old houses the scent suddenly disappeared and I had no idea what to do. I stood for a moment, desperate to find my revenge but I soon began to force myself to realise it was a lost cause for at least this night. But, just as I took one step away from where I was stood my now sensitive ears picked up some voices in the distance. "You should have seen her when I crushed her spine." I heard laughter before that familiar voice continued. "I've got to say though, she tasted divine."

That was him, the vampire that had almost killed me. The vampire who now found it funny. I wasn't laughing, in fact I was practically snarling in fury. I carried on listening to the roar of laughter as a moved to track the sound down. It didn't take me long, I found the vampire stood with two others outside a shutdown restaurant. The one I wanted to kill began to speak just as I got to them. "Oh, it's such a shame she's..." He saw me and trailed off with his mouth hanging open. "...dead. That's impossible."

I flashed fang at him in an evil grin. "Well obviously not. What's the matter? Did you see a ghost or something?"

He didn't answer he just stared at me. One of his friends did though who was a drunken, arrogant idiot. "Well well, looks like we've got something new to play with tonight."

As he began to stroll towards me I smirked at him. "If you want something to play with why don't you play with this?" In one fast movement I pulled the sports bag off my shoulder, yanked out a ready to fire crossbow and shot it at him. I hit the vampire straight in the heart and he fell to the floor. The second one looked angry at what I had done and dashed towards me with his fangs down.

I dived out the way as I yanked two stakes out the bag. I wasn't ready though when he doubled back at me and jumped on me, pinning me on the ground. I growled as I twisted free of his hands, grabbed his rolled over till I was pinning his. With one vicious snarl I slammed a stake down into his chest. It was silver and the vampire was almost dead in seconds.

I rose to my feet and turned to face the one that I had come for but he was gone from where he stood. I thought he had run for it but just as I lowered the stake down it was pulled from my grip and I was thrown through the air. I landed on my back a good few yards away. Before I knew it, I was being pinned down again. The vampire had his knees either side of my waist and I couldn't get free. He held the stake in his hands as he smiled at me.


	8. Chapter 8

Michael's POV

It had been half an hour and we still heard or saw nothing. Shane was getting restless and Eve was getting worried. I started heading back towards the Glass House to think of another way to find her when again my phone rang. Hannah again. "Hello Hannah, you heard anything?"

"Michael, get to Vermont Street now, a patrol called in saying there's a fight going on between some vampires. I'm betting one of them is Claire." She sounded frantic and I guessed she was heading there too.

"We'll be right there."

"How far are you?"

"I was just heading back west so not far, a few blocks."

"Ok." She put the phone down.

Eve, noticing the urgency in the conversation and my driving started shouting. "What's going on? What's going on?"

"Someone's spotted a fight going on between some vampires. We think it could be Claire."

Both Shane and Eve whispered in unison. "Oh my god."

I broke every driving law going and I didn't care less. It took less time than I thought to get there. In all honesty, after everything I had seen in Morganville even that didn't stop me from being surprised. As my car rounded the last corner the first thing we saw were two vampires lying on the floor, obviously dead. We held our breath, hoping neither were Claire. We all sighed when we notice both were men.

Then we did see Claire, a few metres away from the bodies. If my heart was still beating it would have stopped when I saw she was being pinned by the vampire that had tried to kill her. He had a stake, he was going to try again. I threw myself from the car without thinking, with Eve and Shane following just after.

Claire's POV

I had the feeling it was over for me but that new ferocious side of me refused to let me go without a fight. I kicked against the force that held me down as I growled furiously. Nothing made a difference, the vampire still kept on smiling at me. "You're a real fighter aren't you? How many times must I try to kill you before I finally succeed? You know, I'm betting it will be one more time."

"Go to hell!" I spat back at him.

"You first." He raised the stake above his head and held it there to get his aim right. At that moment I closed my eyes. _I've lost, it's time to go. _I heard the whistle of the stake gliding down through the air towards me but I was confused when I didn't feel it pierce my still heart. Then I felt his weight on my body disappeared. I opened my eyes to see what was going on and found him being hung by his neck... by Amelie.

She didn't look happy to see the vampire. "I've put up with your behaviour long enough." It was like watching an adult tell off a child. "This, this is the final straw. How dare you try to kill a friend of Morganville. You are lucky she was saved, otherwise your punishment would be even more severe. None the less, still severe it will be. The damage you have caused for the sake of your tastes is unacceptable. Now apologise to Miss Danvers."

At that moment from the corner of my eye I saw Michael running towards me with Eve and Shane a little way behind him. He sighed in sheer relief when he saw Amelie had already stepped in. I didn't pay much attention though, I was intent on knowing was this creeps apology would be. As Amelie kept hold of him he looked down at me sweetly before saying. "Dear sweet Claire, I'm sorry I didn't get another chance to get a taste of you."

Those words made my blood boil and everything turned red. As I began to stand I heard Amelie order. "Michael! Stop her!"

Then as I tried to lunge at the vampire I was suddenly stopped by Michaels arms around my waist, holding me in hi steel grip. Still, I kept on trying to attack. As I kept on trying to jump forward I grabbed Michael's hands and tried to prise open his hold on me. He tried to calm me down as my fangs flashed down and I began to snarl and growl. "Claire, calm down."

I didn't listen, I completely ignored him in fact. He looked up to Amelie. "What do we do? She won't listen, it's like she's not there anymore."

I heard Shane whispered. "Please don't say that."

Amelie answered him calmly. "She needs blood. She should be fine once she has some. Gerald, give Michael a blood bag for Claire."

One of Amelie's guards came forward with a bag and threw it to Michael. _No way in hell am I drinking that. I don't need it. _I knew I was losing myself but I didn't care. I just wanted to kill. Michael took hold of me with his empty hand while he raised the one with the blood to my face. "You need to drink this Claire."

I shook my head quickly. "No I don't. I'm not touching it."

"Yes you are."

He tried to force it to my lips but I pressed them tightly shut as I continued to struggle. I had forgotten about the vampire now, I was more set on keeping the blood out my system.

"I don't need it, leave me alone."

"Claire, you do need it! You need it just as much as I do! Now just drink it!"

"Screw you!"

Suddenly, to my complete surprise, Michael literally slammed me down to the floor so I was laid on my back. He knelt down and pressed his knee down on my chest so I couldn't escape. "Sorry Claire, but this is for your own good."

I started screaming, again there was no escape and this time no one was going to help me. Michael leaned forward and took hold of my face. He forced my mouth open and brought the blood bag forward, pressing the opening to my lips. I felt the liquid flow into my mouth so I forced myself not to swallow. Of course, Michael saw what I was doing and tilted my head back, causing the liquid to flow down my throat.

The second it did, my eyes flashed open and I began to gasp for breath. What the hell was wrong with me? Thoughts began to come to me as I became myself again and the horror or what I was doing hit me so hard it almost hurt. I notice that everyone except Amelie were leaning over me to see whether the blood had done its trick. At the moment I stared of to the sky and started sobbing hysterically. I felt Michael let go of me but I suddenly felt light and dizzy. The second I was on my feet I felt the feeling in my legs vanish and they gave way. Everything turned black.


	9. Chapter 9

Shane's POV

From the look I saw in Claire's eyes I knew straight away she was herself again. That look of horror and disgust. But I still hadn't changed my mind, she was better of without me, I had to leave her. Within seconds of her becoming the Claire I knew the situation overwhelmed her too much and she collapsed. I took this as my last chance with her, my last chance to touch her before I had to let her go. Without a word to anyone I just walked over to her, lifted her into my arms and went to Michael's car.

I sat in the back with Claire snuggled into my chest and it was so unbelievably hard not to change my mind in that moment that I just wanted to cry in her hair. I waited for Eve and Michael who finally came after ten minutes speaking with Amelie. Her guards had dragged that son of a bitch of a vampire away, hopefully to make him suffer.

When Michael and Eve jumped in the car I still said nothing, they seemed to notice that I didn't want to talk so Michael started up the car and drove in silence. I treasured every moment of the journey home, gently stroking her hair and tracing circles around her soft lips. Unfortunately, the moment didn't last long enough, soon the car pulled up outside the Glass House and time was up. And typically, it was at that moment that Claire began to stir.

I got out the car and ran for the house as fast as I could, knowing that I needed to let Claire go before she wakes up to make it easier. As Michael and Eve followed behind me once I was inside I laid Claire carefully down on the sofa and took a step back, just watching.

Just two minutes later Claire's eyes began to flutter open. She looked a little dazed and confused at first but when everything came into focus and she saw me she smiled. I didn't return the smile and soon she was frowning. "Shane?" She put a hand out to me put I took a step back even though it hurt. "What's the matter?"

I shook my head at her and added cruelness to my voice, fake it may have been but it sounded real, too real. "Don't."

"Did I do something wrong?" The second she said it her eyes went wide as she looked at her newly pale skin and ran her tongue over her hidden fangs. She immediate thought it was because she was now a vampire. "Oh. Shane I'm so sorry but it wasn't exactly my choice, I didn't ask for this."

"Whatever. Either way I can't- I don't love you anymore."

The second I said the words I had to look away from the expression that appeared on her face. Hurt, so much hurt. I really wanted to punch myself but I still believed what I was doing was the right thing to do. Then, just as Eve walked in from the hallway to see what was going on Claire burst into tears. Eve looked over straight away. "Claire, Claire! What's wrong?"

Claire just shook her head frantically as she ran up the stairs. Eve looked at me with an annoyed look on her face. "Somebody want to tell me what the hell is going on here?"

Claire's POV

The second I heard Shane's words my whole world shattered, he didn't want me anymore. I couldn't face anyone it hurt too much. I did the one thing I always did and ran to my room to hide away as I cried as my heart broke. In my room I sat and sobbed and sobbed endlessly.

Then my sensitive ears began to tune in on something downstairs, shouting.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I realised it was Eve. "You are one selfish prick you know that?"

Then I heard Shane. "Just shut up Eve, I don't want to talk about it."

"Oh don't you, well that's a shame. Because I do!"

"Fine. Fire away."

"How can you be so selfish? How could you dump her just because she now needs a tan? So what if she's a vampire, she is still Claire! You know Shane I was wrong about you, I honestly thought you cared about her but obviously not-"

"Eve! Of course I still care about her, I freaking love her. I lied to her Eve, I lied to protect her. She's better off without me."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He didn't dump me because he didn't want me, he thought he wasn't good enough for me! What an idiot!

Eve was silent for a moment before she replied. "Are- are you serious?"

"Yes Eve, I'm serious."

"Oh my god Shane you are so stupid. What kind of crap is that? How the hell is she better off without you? This isn't a Disney film Shane, this isn't a Cinderella story. Let me explain something to you, listen carefully. You love Claire, Claire loves you. You two have been in love with each other since the day Claire came here. What else do you need?"

"I couldn't protect her! I couldn't be there for her when she needed me. Twice!"

"This is Morganville Shane, you can't be there for each other twenty-four seven it's not possible. Plus, you have always protected her. If it wasn't for you I'm pretty sure she would have died about a hundred times by now. Now why don't you go up there and take back what you said?"

"No, I can't."

"Jesus Shane! Ok fine, but let me say one more thing. If you think you're protecting her doing this then you are wrong. All you're doing is breaking that poor girl's heart and she doesn't deserve it. Try and sleep tonight with that on your conscience." I heard Eve walk away before Shane could even reply.

My head was spinning after hearing that. He was lying for my sake. He still loved me and I knew it now. And believe me, I wasn't going to let him go that easily knowing that. I decided that I would get a good night sleep to rest the chaos of the night off but in the morning I was going to confront him. I was not ever going to give up on him.


	10. Chapter 10

Claire's POV

Morning finally came after an almost sleepless night. It was time for some confronting. Luckily as I got dressed I remembered both Eve and Michael were working so there would be no interruptions to my talk with Shane. I didn't waste a second, just threw on some clean clothes and went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and hair before heading down to the kitchen. I'm not going to lie, I still looked like crap from the crying from the night before but whatever.

Just as I thought, Shane was in the kitchen making himself a coffee. He looked up at me when I walked in and I was sure I saw a look of guilt touch his eyes before he hid all emotion away from me. Shane didn't say anything to me, just carried on making his coffee. I decided to wait a moment before I said anything to him and went to the fridge, pretending to grab stuff out of it.

The second his coffee was ready and in his hand he turned around and started to leave. I flashed across the room in an instant to stand in front of him. It surprised him at first but he recovered the empty look in his eyes. "Something wrong?"

"I just wanted to ask you something."

"Ok."

"So, did you dump me just because of _this_?" I waved my hands over my body to point out the skin tone. "Because this little thing means you don't care about me anymore?"

"Yes, I thought you understood that last night."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "You're lying." I was actually pretty angry.

"No I'm not. Why would you say that?" Damn, he was a good actor.

"Hmm well, let me just quote something here." I did the little quote marks with my fingers and mimicked Shane's voice. "I lied to her Eve, I lied to protect her. She's better off without me." My own voice reappeared and I continued. "I heard you talking to Eve last night Shane."

This time he managed to keep his composure but I honestly felt sure I was going to get it out of him. I was wrong. "Claire, I only said that to get Eve off my back." Those words not only shattered my heart again but they also confused me. It made sense, maybe he wasn't a good actor, maybe he really didn't care. But I heard him talking, it didn't sound like he was lying to Eve. I was starting to get desperate for the heart ache to end.

As tears began streaming from my eyes I cried out at him. "Why are you doing this? Why are you lying to me?"

"I'm not lying Claire, I don't love you anymore."

I looked down at my hand and saw the ring he gave me, just seeing it gave me a little more hope, but not enough. "But- but you gave me this. You said you would always love me. How does this affect that?"

"It just does. What else do you want from me?"

That was all I could take. The hurt and the anger bubbled up inside me. If I was going to get sturdy proof then there was only one thing to do. And if my worst fears are confirmed then it wouldn't matter in the end. I gave him a look that told him just how much he had hurt me. I then pulled the ring off my finger and threw it at him.

Walking out to the living room I noticed Shane was following behind me. I looked around to see him heading for the couch. He must have thought I was running away to my room, I wasn't. Instead I headed straight for the front door that lead to the morning sun.

When Shane realised where I was headed he looked over at me and tried to speak as calmly as he could, he cracked a little. "Claire, where are you going?"

"Outside."

"You can't go out there. It's daytime, you'll burn."

I laughed bitterly through my tears. "Like you care."

When I pulled the front door open Shane came running over. The porch blocked the sun so I didn't burn in the doorway. Shane shouted as he got to me. "Claire, stop. This is ridiculous. So I don't love you anymore, this isn't going to make a difference. It's just stupid."

"Stupid! It might be stupid to you Shane but it's not to me." I was crying hysterically and my body was shaking. "You hurt me Shane, you hurt me more than you can ever imagine. And you know what, on top of that I feel like I've lost everything so this just makes it unbearably worse. The question is, what do I have to live for now?"

Before he could even respond I backed out of the door as his mouth opened in horror. Then I jumped down the porch steps and stood in the blaring sun. I managed to grit my teeth and stay almost silent for about three seconds as the sun began to fry my skin. Then I was trying to muffle my cries, but even they turned into ear splitting screams. I wasn't there long though. I soon saw Shane throwing himself down the porch steps and running towards me.

He wrapped his arms around me and practically started trying to drag me back into the house. I was stronger than him now and resisted his attempts. I continued screaming but refused to move. At one point I was sure I heard Shane crying but I waved the thought away. Soon though, the burns were so bad that I had become really weak. So weak Shane could soon push me towards the house. "Claire, please get back in the house!"

I still protested. "No, what's the point I give up. I-I thought you loved me but now I know I'm just imagining things."

"You're not imagining anything Claire! I do still love you, I always will. I lied, Ok, I lied! Now please get back in the house, I don't want to lose you."

I would have hugged Shane but at that very moment my strength vanished and I almost collapsed. Shane shoved me the last few feet into the house before slamming the door shut. I hit the floor and knelt down as I cried out from both the pain and from being so overwhelmed. Shane dropped to his knees and grabbed hold of me. He immediately started crying into my shoulder. "Don't you ever do that to me again Claire. You here me? Don't ever hurt yourself like that."

"I'm sorry."

Shane's POV

I couldn't believe she did that, that she actually stood in front of the sun and let herself burn. It was at that moment I realised Eve was right. Claire and I needed each other, always. But I thought I was going to lose her. I forgot how strong she was and I struggled at first to even budge her an inch towards safety. Then the burns got to her and she weakened dramatically and I was able to drag her into the house.

The second she was safe I just collapsed beside her and wrapped my arms around her now almost black skin, never wanting to let go. I only had my arms around her for a minute though. Because suddenly, her entire body convulsed violently and she fell forward into my arms, unconscious. She needed blood, fast.


	11. Chapter 11

Shane's POV

I knew I had to be quick if I was going to save her so straight away I moved. The first thing I did was lift Claire's limp body into my arms and run into the living room before laying her down on the couch. Once she was laid down I dashed for the kitchen heading straight for the fridge.

Throwing the fridge door open I started rummaging through its content, looking for the one thing Claire needed. I found coke cans, old sandwiches from the TPU, lots of OJ cartons as well as other things I didn't care about. But I didn't find Michael's sports bottles, I didn't find the blood. I soon got desperate, started throwing things out the fridge hoping the bottles would appear somewhere, but they didn't. I shouted out in frustration. "You've got to be kidding me! Michael you idiot!" The one time he lets himself run out of blood is the time it is most definitely needed. I kicked the fridge door shut and slid down it, crying silently.

What the hell do I do? I knew I couldn't get her to the donation centre in time. But there was no blood here, none at all except... me. As that thought hit me I slowly rose to my feet, thinking deeper into it. That was the one thing I swore to never allow happen to me, being bitten. I never wanted it to happen from an attack never mind allowing it. But this was Claire and in my eyes she wasn't a vampire, or at least not like any of the others, she was special. Screw everything I have ever sworn on. If it saves Claire's life I will do anything.

Without another thought on the subject I sprinted back to where Claire was still lying. She was still unconscious. That was when I realised that I wasn't completely sure how to do this. Do I cut my wrist first? Would it better if she got it straight from my throat? Who the hell knows?

Soon I decided I would just try my bare wrist first and see if it worked. So, I knelt down by Claire's head on the floor. Hoping it would work, I lifted my arm up and started moving it towards Claire's mouth. Once my wrist was above her mouth I lowered it slowly, silently praying. I soon felt her soft lips brush the skin that covered my veins. She didn't react at first and I felt my heart stutter in fear. After a few seconds though I saw her mouth open slightly and her fangs slid down slowly. Then, her hand came up and took hold of my wrist, holding it firmly in place. And in the next seconds she moved forward and bit down. I sighed in sort of relief when her fangs dug deep into my skin. It wasn't like I thought it would be, it was kind of nice actually. Weird huh.

Claire started sucking gently at first but she got a little frantic after a moment, like she was desperate to get the blood she needed, which she was. I could actually feel the blood leave my body, like I could feel it being pulled out. I did start to get really dizzy after a while though, and I knew I should have made Claire me go a while before. I knew she was still partially unconscious because she wouldn't even dream of biting me. I knew she would be upset when she woke up. When five minutes passed I decided if I didn't stop her she would end up killing me so I took hold of the hand that gripped me and tried to prise it off. Only one problem, she just gripped tighter. I tried to wake her up to make her realise what she was doing, but she wouldn't wake. I couldn't make her stop... Oh crap.


	12. Chapter 12

Shane's POV

Just as I started to feel myself slipping and I honestly thought I was going to die, I heard the front door slam shut. Before I knew it, Claire was thrown across the room and Michael was stood there. He looked seriously pissed as he stared at her. As Claire started to stand up, Eve came from around the corner and when she took in what had happened she gasped before joining Michael. Claire looked seriously shocked. "What the hell?"

Michael just shouted straight at her. "Exactly! What the hell do you think you are doing?"

The look on her face told me she had no idea of what had just happened. But then she looked at my wrist and saw the bite mark. She frowned at it before starting to speak. "Who did-" She cut herself off when she licked her lips and tasted the small amount of blood that was around her mouth. At that moment she realised what she had done and I have never seen such a heart breaking look on her face in my life. She didn't get much of a chance to do much else though because soon Michael and Eve were onto her. Again, Michael started with the shouting and even to me he was pretty scary. "If you think you can go around biting people then I got news for you. It doesn't work like that!"

As he yelled, he and Eve were moving closer to Claire and because she was so confused and scared she backed away. Soon enough they had her backed in the corner, her whole body was shaking. I wanted to get up and stop them but I felt so weak I couldn't find the energy. Eve started with the shouting after a moment. "Claire! That's Shane you just attacked. How could you?"

"I-I-"

"No excuses, there is no way around this!" Michael, again with the shouting. "Just because you are a vampire doesn't mean you can go around and do what you want!"

Claire couldn't take it. She crouched down and held her head in her hands as she sobbed. Still, Michael and Eve didn't take the hint and continued. "Don't hide Claire. You did this you face it."

I couldn't take it either. I gathered the energy I could find and stood up before running in front of Claire to stop Michael and Eve from doing anymore damage. "Hey, stop it now!" I held my hands up to stop them and they fell silent. I felt a rush of air behind me and I knew Claire had bolted in panic. Michael wasn't happy. "Shane! I can't believe you. She attacked you and you let her go. She needs telling straight, it isn't right."

"Oh yeah, who the hell said she attacked me huh?"

"Well the fact she was latched onto your wrist kind of gave us a clue."

"She didn't attack me you idiot! I made her drink my blood."

Michael looked at me in shock. "You what?"

"I gave her my blood Michael. I hurt her, she ran outside into the sun and it nearly killed her. And _you _ran out of blood bottles for the first time ever on the day they are really needed. It was the only way I could save her."

"Are you insane? She nearly killed you. She wouldn't have stopped if we didn't come back. I can't believe she acted like she had done nothing wrong."

I groaned in frustration as they still didn't get it. "Oh my god, hello! She wasn't acting, she was asleep when she bit me, she didn't remember a thing. She didn't know what she was doing dumbass. And now you just scared the hell out of her and make her feel like crap."

A look of guilt hit both Eve's and Michael's faces. "Oh."

"Now if you excuse me, I'm going to make sure she is Ok. And you two better apologise to her later."

Claire's POV

Oh my god I had bitten Shane. Worse, I nearly killed him. He was so going to hate me, forever. I couldn't stay in that room with them, to look at the disgusted expressions they didn't try to hide. I fled to my room at the first chance I got. At that moment I truly hated myself. I didn't have the right to live for what I had done.

In my room I couldn't control the frantic sobbing and the thoughts that came to my head. _I should die. I should leave my friends so they are safe._

As I looked up from my shaking hands I saw something glisten in my window. I realised what it was straight away, a silver stake. That's when I decided what I was going to do. I decided I really should leave for the good of everyone else. I was unsafe to be near. Quickly, I dashed over and grabbed it, ignoring the burning, and went to lie back down on my bed. Once I was laid down I closed my eyes and raised the stake above my head, getting my aim for my heart. I couldn't control my breathing, I was still scared of what I was doing even though I believed I should.

I was so stuck in what I was doing that I never even heard my bedroom door open. I was only made aware someone was there when I felt a weight appear on top of me and hands grab hold of my wrists that were still raised. I opened my eyes to find Shane over me, trying to force the stake out of my hands. He must have seen what I was doing and run over to stop me. I resisted just like before but he wasn't giving up. I couldn't look at him after what I had done, I just shut my eyes again as I fought to lose his grip. "Claire! Stop it please!"

"No! I can't. I shouldn't be here, I'm too dangerous!"

"Claire, please let the stake go."

"No!" I cried out.

Shane's voice softened slightly. "Claire, look at me."

I shook my head. "No, just admit you hate me and let me get on with this."

My words must have given him sudden burst of strength because he managed to twist the stake from my hands and he pinned me to the bed by holding down my wrists above my head.

I squirmed away but he never moved. "Just look at me."

I finally opened my eyes and looked at Shane reluctantly, I realised he had tears down his cheeks. "Does this look like I hate you? Believe me Claire I won't ever hate you, especially not today. What happened before was an accident or at the least my fault. Not yours."

"But I-"

"Let me finish. What I did for you today I would do again a hundred times if it means saving you. No matter what happens. So believe me when I say this, I love you more than anything in the world and I never want to lose you. I also promise to never hurt you again. Eve's right, we need each other no matter what."

He didn't hate me, oh my god. I couldn't reply, I just wrapped my arms around his neck and sobbed into his chest, never wanting to let go.


End file.
